Lauren Wasser by Chris Maggio. ‘Diamond Dolls’ CR Fashion Book SS 2019

AOC had a six degrees of separation moment just now, with the intersection of golden bionic legs model Laura Wasser and Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney.

We met Wasser earlier in the week, with her Paper Magazine editorial. Wasser lost both her legs to TSS (Toxic Shock Syndrome), an unwelcome life episode launched as chapter one on October 3, 2012.

Wasser became an activist on TSS and the entire reality of health standards for and potential dangers around feminine hygiene products.

Not mincing words, Wasser puts the subject through this lens: "If men's dicks were falling off, this wouldn't be an issue. But because it's a women's health issue, we're not recognized, and that's why I'm fighting for us."

Vogue US celebrated Lauren Wasser’s return to fashion in September 2018.

Lauren Wasser’s Golden Legs Flash a Triumphant Return to Fashion

In Wasser’s Fashion Week video and followup Vogue post, we learned that the bionic beauty met with Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney to discuss a bill to make it mandatory for brands to list the ingredients in their tampons. In Trumplandia’s political climate where legislation designed to protect women is harder and harder to push into law, Wasser is using her fashion platform to raise awareness around TSS and related issues. In fact, it job #1.

New Zealand’s The Twenties Club, aka Twentysomething, also saw the Vogue video and confirmed the research.

Toxic Shock Syndrome is a serious bacterial infection. When untreated, TSS can lead to shock, renal failure and even death. Tampons do not cause TSS per say, but when a tampon is left inside a woman for too long it essentially becomes a welcoming environment for bacteria to flourish and as the bacteria multiply they can release toxins into your system. The other concern is the synthetic ingredients used to make tampons. The synthetic fibres, along with a tampon’s absorbency, can create an ideal environment for the bacteria that causes TSS.
. . . The chances of actually contracting TSS are incredibly rare and less than half of all TSS incidents involve tampons. In addition to that, a person must already have Staphylococcus aureus present in his or her body to contract TSS and only about 20 percent of the general population carries the bacteria.

Enter now Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney — an ardent feminist and just-elected Democratic Chair of the House Oversight Committee, after the death of the great Maryland Congressman Elijah Cummings.

Maloney, who has spent her entire career lobbying for comprehensive research and data on feminine hygiene products, says there is “no research that unequivocally declares these feminine hygiene products safe, and independent studies by women’s health organizations have found chemicals of concern like dioxin, carcinogens and reproductive toxins present in tampons and pads.”

VICE covered Congresswoman Maloney’s efforts in 2015, when she had brought forward a bill to research the long-term effects of tampon use seven times. Her colleagues had no interest. (Note that her considerable new powers might persuade a few to acquire an interest in the topic.)

Congresswoman Maloney wrote an Op -Ed for The Guardian on the lack of any medical data on long-term tampon use. In the bleaching process of tampons, dioxin is used in only trace amounts, according to the FDA. Both the Environmental Protection Agency and the International Agency for Research on Cancer have identified dioxins as potential carcinogens.

A May 24, 2017 New York Times article Period Activists Want Makers to Disclose Ingredients share the state of ‘period justice’and the inability to move bills on the topic out of committee. Lauren Wasser has a brief post on Carolyn Maloney’s website.

Here Lauren Wasser delivers a March 2017 TED X Talk in Tel Aviv, prior to removing her second leg over ongoing complications with gangrene.